Snapping images of breastfeeding women without their consent could lead to two years in jail

Ministers could sentence perverts to up to 2 years imprisonment for taking photos of breastfeeding women.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is looking at broadening a law which came into force in 2019 to combat ‘upskirting’. 

The Voyeurism Act made it illegal to take a photograph under someone’s clothing without their consent but it does not specifically cover women who have to remove garments to feed an infant.

Following a campaign by Stella Creasy, Labour MP and leader of the Labour Party Stella Creasy claimed she was photographed feeding her newborn daughter while on a north London train.

A Ministry of Justice source said: ‘It is under consideration but is still at an early stage.’

Stella Creasy, Labour MP and photographer who claimed she was photographed feeding her newborn daughter while on a north London train station train, suggested that Mr Raab could expand the law.

Miss Creasy claimed that earlier in the year, she was nursing her infant on a train between Highbury and Islington when she met a boy who laughed and took pictures.

‘He had his phone out and I thought he was playing with his phone, and then I realised with horror that he was taking photos,’ she said.

‘You feel exposed. I don’t think he can have got very much of a picture, but the sheer horror at the point when you’re focused on trying to support your newborn baby… and somebody is doing that, it was vile.

‘Because I felt quite vulnerable, I just got off my train as soon as I could.’

Julia Cooper, 32 years old, also contacted the MP after he took photographs of Julia Cooper breastfeeding in Sale Water Park.

The Voyeurism Act made it illegal to take a photograph under someone’s clothing without their consent but it does not specifically cover women who have to remove garments to feed an infant. Above is a stock photo [File photo]

‘He had attached a telephoto lens to an SLR camera, and was trying to get close up photos of my breast,’ she said earlier this year.

‘I was shaking, I felt so violated.’

He refused to remove the images, she said.

Miss Cooper reported the incident to police, but they said it wasn’t illegal.

‘I don’t want this to happen to me, other women, or my daughter if she chooses to have kids,’ she said.

Miss Creasy has been working with Miss Cooper’s MP Jeff Smith on a campaign, under the slogan ‘Stop the Breast Pest’.

‘Unfortunately there’re some very creepy people out there who think they have a right to photograph women when breastfeeding for their own enjoyment, and that’s not acceptable,’ Miss Creasy said.